Safety systems for avoiding a collision or reducing damage due to a collision, such as a PCS (Pre-crash safety system), have been developed. To appropriately operate the safety system, it is required to accurately obtain a distance between an own vehicle and an object (a vehicle other than the own vehicle, an obstacle, a pedestrian, or the like), a lateral position indicating a position of the object in the width direction of the own vehicle, the size of the object, or the like.
As a technique for covering the above requirements, an object detection apparatus is known which detects an object by using a radar and an imaging unit. Since the radar detects, as a radar target, an object to be detected as a reflection point of electromagnetic waves, the radar can accurately detect a distance to the object. However, it may be difficult for the radar to correctly specify the size or a lateral position of the object. Since the imaging unit extracts an object as an image target by image processing for a picked up image, the imaging unit can accurately detect the size or a lateral position of the object. However, it may be difficult for the imaging unit to correctly specify the distance to the object.
Hence, in Patent Literature 1, a radar target captured by a radar and an image target captured by an imaging unit are compared with each other. If it is determined that the radar target and the image target are captured from the same object, the radar target and the picked up target are combined (fusion) to create a new target (fusion target). It is noted that the distance to the fusion target is set based on the detection distance to the radar target, and the lateral position of the fusion target is generated by combining both information on the radar target and the image target. Hence, using the fusion target can improve a capability of detecting an object of an object detection apparatus. (Refer to Patent Literature 1)